From that fifty percent, the Nephilim saved only twenty percent. The Fallen got to the rest.
Once again, sheer statistics.
So yeah, they were screwed.
He wondered why he was still sitting there instead of packing up everything he owned and leaving town. He was on the losing side, but he didn’t leave. And honestly, wouldn’t it all eventually catch up with him anyway? Thinking back to reasons why he’d left his comfy job and joined the police force, he began to understand a part of him that had lain dormant. This whole time he had been searching for something missing in his life. The elusive purpose people always talked about. He thought being a police officer would seal up the hole in him. But it had only been a step in the right direction.
A step that had led him to Lily—and the truth about himself.
He explored the Sanctuary, lost in his own thoughts. He learned the security-firm portion of the Sanctuary was one of the best. It offered protection to some of the world’s richest people and provided software security for the top companies in the world. He saw more than one supercompany listed on documents carried by one human or another. Fucking unreal.
Over the course of the day, he realized he was able to pick out the other Nephilim who mingled among the human workforce. A strange tingling sensation appeared before a Nephilim stepped off the elevator in front of him or walked past the door.
After wandering the upper levels, he went underground. Without asking who he was, the guards stepped aside, allowing him access to the real Sanctuary. Underground, his senses were firing left and right. There were Nephilim everywhere. Aboveground, the humans at least smiled at him, but the Nephilim didn’t look his way as they passed. Even more strange was the fact that he had not seen one single female Nephilim.
The first level was laid out like a school. It had several occupied classrooms. He heard muted laughter and a young female voice hushing the students, and his curiosity got the best of him. He peered into the room.
It was like any normal kindergarten class, with a dozen children scurrying about the room carrying construction paper and crayons. A slender teacher stood at the head of the classroom, a patient smile fixed across her pretty face. It was then he noticed a little girl Nephilim with paint staining her chubby hands. So now he knew of two female Nephilim. The teacher he wasn’t sure about.
Moving past that room, he glanced into a couple more. There were students of all ages, and some seemed near graduation age. This level had its own cafeteria, playground, and what he guessed was a basketball court by the sounds echoing from behind closed doors. The second and third floors were housing levels for the students, and one looked like a giant Toys R Us store. He quickly backed out of there. Sighing, he moved onto the fourth level, and it was like finding Heaven.
The amount of weapons stored there would have made the militia’s mouth water. Michael slowly made his way down the hallway. Each room was the size of a gymnasium and had a theme. In one room, guns of all sizes lined the walls. All of them had cryptic writing engraved into their handles or on their barrels. Some were models he had never seen before.
Another room was littered with explosives and detonating devices. Michael didn’t like the looks of it and found another room housing razor-sharp knives and swords ranging from samurai to the small daggers Lily carried. All were polished and, like the guns, had strange images carved into them. He wanted to touch them—all of them—but the sound of sparring drew his attention.
At the end of the hallway, he found several large training rooms. Inside one, he immediately recognized Remy sparring with a younger Nephilim. He clearly outskilled the deeply tanned teenager, but he was patient as the boy fumbled over his feet or dropped his sword.
In another corner, several older Nephilim were teaching Brazilian jujitsu to a rapt audience. Farther back, men were grappling. At first glance, Michael thought they were really fighting because of the intensity in the way they went after one another and the hard falls some were taking. He was surprised when a brown-haired Nephilim stood up and laughed as he used the back of his hand to wipe blood off his split lip.
The swarthy-skinned Nephilim grinned. “Your twin fights better than you.”
“Whatever.” The other man laughed again. “I’m better than him on all other levels. Ones that count outside the training room.”
Both men grinned, falling back into defensive stances.
Michael backed away, heading for the next level before he could be spotted. On the fifth floor were additional housing quarters, each one under lock and key. The key to his was securely in his pocket.
Knowing there was only one more level to investigate, he was curious when he found guards posted at the sixth level. Apparently he didn’t have clearance for that floor and was turned away. He returned to the seventh level, where his room was, and decided to poke around there. He knew it held chambers meant for housing, a library, and a large computer lab.
Drifting through the library, he scanned the stacks. Several of the books were in languages he couldn’t read. There were many bibles of various ages and versions. On the bottom shelf, way in the back, he found some volumes of mythology. One in particular caught his eye.
“The Book of Enoch,” he said, and crouched down. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
Sliding out the ancient book, he cracked the spine. A plume of dust hit the air. He thumbed through some of the aged pages. “And they became pregnant, and they bore great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: Who consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. They began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another’s flesh, and drink the blood.” Whoa. Michael shook his head, but he was morbidly fascinated by it all.
Just as he read a verse about God, Uriel, and Noah—as in Noah’s Ark—someone cleared his throat behind him. He looked up, finding Nathaniel standing between the two stacks.
“I see you’ve discovered the library,” Nathaniel said.